Thursday, May 14, 2009

Didn't it take much longer for McDonalds to serve their first billion burgers? Back in the college days, I had a wristwatch that indicated the date and day of the week, as well as a sweep second hand -- almost a personal analog assistant (PAA?). What else could a watch manufacturer build in that would be useful? At that time, it occurred to me that it would be handy if a watch could also give an accurate weather forecast for the day -- almost practical, just a little ahead of the technology.

What iPhone Apps Are Used Most? Hint: Not Gamesby Mark Walsh

(Excerpt) "When it comes to the type of applications iPhone owners use most, ones for checking the weather trump games, music, news and everything else.

According to an upcoming report on smartphone usage by online market research firm Compete, 39% of iPhone users cited weather-related apps as one of the three kinds of applications they use most frequently. (The Weather Channel app specifically was cited by 13%.) ..."

(Excerpt) "... Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) App Store could be the most important growth driver for a company that generated $32.5 billion in annual revenue last year, even though it gives away most of its software downloads for free.

Thanks to Apple's powerful "got an App for that" [There's an App for That] advertising campaign, the App Store is helping the Cupertino, Calif.-based consumer electronics company sell iPhones, which start at $199, and $229 iPod Touch music players that drive the company's top-line growth. The dynamic is very similar to how Apple's iTunes store propelled iPod sales earlier this decade.

The App Store's momentum will likely continue because of the strength of Apple's iPhone operating system, which is being overhauled to allow multi-player gaming that could make the smartphone a challenger to other handheld videogame devices. App designers love the operating system because it's simple to write programs that run on it ...

The App Store gives the iPhone an edge that competitors, like Nokia Corp. ( NOK) and Research in Motion, Ltd. (RIMM), haven't been able to replicate by giving consumers a reason to buy the company's high-margin devices. Both Nokia and Research in Motion have tried copying Apple's model, with limited success ..."

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"...draws with pencils -- not quickly." Writing under the obliquely oxymoronic moniker QwkDrw, I fancy this blog an internet-based “column”; articles often beginning with a descriptive photo. The posts, sometimes written in series, are easily further researched by readers with links to sources, photos, video clips, and additional information. This blog is not represented as authoritative and complete -- it is a sort of brief synopsis or abridged digest version of larger matters condensed from one perhaps inexpert perspective into a reasonable amount of reading time. The topics here might be interesting to someone also of my background and may or may not be more widely appealing.
2014 Blog Award: 10 Hot Readers and their Blogs. "#4. QwkDrw - Possibly one of the first commenters on my blog the mysterious QwkDrw has stuck around... I love his sense of humor." Annabel Candy, "Get in the Hot Spot" blog.